After having received all required regulatory approvals in Russia and Ukraine AB InBev announced on Friday the completion of the proposed 50:50 merger with Turkey’s leading brewer AnadoluEfes’ existing businesses in the two countries. The new entity is named AB InBev Efes and will be fully consolidated in the Anadolu Efes’ financial accounts. AB InBev will cease to include in its global reporting financial results information on the markets of Russia and Ukraine but will report on the income from the combined group. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The merger was announced last August (inside.beer, 9.8.2017) and follows AB InBev’s acquisition of a 24 percent stake in Anadolu Efes as part of the company’s combination with SABMiller, which completed in October 2016. SABMiller received the stake in Anadolu Efes in 2012 in exchange for its business in Russia.
AB InBev and Efes own five and six plants in Russia, respectively, and had a market share in 2016 of 13% and 14%. Thus the combined business comes close to market leader Carlsberg with a share of 34% and overtakes Heineken with an estimated market share of 25% in the same year.
